Article published in:
Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 6:2 (2021) ► pp. 276–297

Investigating the impact of a semester-long study abroad program on L2 reading and vocabulary development

| Universitat de Lleida
| Universitat de Lleida
This study investigates the impact that a semester-long study abroad program has on the L2 reading and vocabulary development of a group of Catalan/Spanish bilinguals learning English as an L2 (n = 30). Another objective is to determine whether gains in participants’ vocabulary and reading – if any – are related to their initial L2 proficiency and L2 vocabulary level. Participants were administered (1) a reading text, (2) the Updated Vocabulary Levels Test, (3) a written essay, (4) a placement test and (5) an online questionnaire before and after their SA experiences. The results suggest that the sojourn was positive for participants’ reading comprehension, receptive vocabulary and lexical accuracy, but not for reading fluency, lexical fluency, lexical density and lexical sophistication. It was also found that the students’ initial L2 vocabulary and proficiency level were related to gains in receptive vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Keywords: reading, vocabulary, development, learning context
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1SA and reading
    • 2.2SA and vocabulary
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Instruments
      • 3.2.1Receptive and productive vocabulary
      • 3.2.2Reading comprehension and reading fluency
      • 3.2.3General proficiency
      • 3.2.4L2 use while abroad
    • 3.3Procedure
    • 3.4Data analysis procedures
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 22 September 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.21015.bor
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